June 25, 2001

According to findings reported at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society in Denver, Colorado last week, the standard use of thyroid hormone replacement drugs to shrink nodules in patients who have otherwise normal thyroid function may not be necessary.

The research found that only a small percentage of nodules in patients with normal thyroid function appear to grow.

Dr. Poj Tannirandorn from the the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine studied more than 100 benign thyroid nodules in patients who were not on any thyroid hormone drugs. The study found that 60 percent of the nodules did not change size, 34 percent decreased in size, and only 6 percent increased in size. All the nodules that grew underwent fine needle aspiration, and all were benign.

Based on these results, the researchers have stated that "routine administration of TSH suppressive thyroid hormone therapy to prevent growth is unwarranted."